ONTARIO LIBERALS IMPROVING ACCESS TO FRENCH SERVICES FOR FRANCOPHONES

Ontario Liberals Will Stand Up and Fight For Franco-Ontarians

Thursday, May 31, 2018

[OTTAWA] — Premier Kathleen Wynne was at Mouvement d'implication francophone d'Orléans (MIFO) in Ottawa today to highlight how Ontario Liberals will stand up for the francophone community. Anchoring that commitment was a pledge to build a new facility to support MIFO’s efforts to offer more activities and services to the francophone community.

Premier Wynne underlined her long-standing commitment to bilingualism. Surrounded by members of her Ottawa team, Premier Wynne also pledged that a re-elected Ontario Liberal government will launch a review of the French Language Services Act within its first 100 days, and strengthen access to quality government services in French.

When Premier Wynne was elected four years ago, she promised to build Ontario up for everyone. Since then, Ontario Liberals have made major strides toward improving the lives of our province’s 622,000 francophones.

No previous government has invested as much as Ontario Liberals have since 2014 in our French-languages schools, creating a standalone Ministry of Francophone Affairs, and taking steps toward building Ontario’s first French-language university. All of this work was recognized by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, which granted our province observer status.

The Ontario Liberal record also includes:

Building and upgrading more than 60 French schools

Improving access to justice services in French

Adding new long-term care beds to serve francophone seniors, part of a commitment to creating 500 new beds for francophones across the province

Passing legislation to recognize the bilingual character of the City of Ottawa

Signing an historic agreement with the federal government to increase the number of French-speaking immigrants and international students coming to Ontario

Meanwhile, Doug Ford has candidly revealed he thinks Canada’s francophone population only lives in Quebec. Andrea Horwath and the NDP largely neglected francophones when they were drafting their platform, and have nothing new to offer the community.

Only Ontario Liberals will stand up for all of Ontario’s communities, including the province’s 622,000 Franco-Ontarians. Our plan also expands publicly funded prescription drugs to cover one-in-two people in Ontario, makes the largest mental health care investment in Canadian history, builds a record amount of transit, boosts hospital funding, helps more people go to college or university with publicly funded tuition and lets more parents go back to work by funding preschool child care from 2 ½ to kindergarten. Ontario’s economy is growing stronger, but that growth and the care and services it funds are at risk this election.

QUOTE

“My mother instilled in me a deep appreciation for our two official languages from an early age. Since entering public life, I’ve worked to improve my French so that I can truly understand the needs of Franco-Ontarians. A re-elected Ontario Liberal government will continue to stand up for francophones, including by undertaking a modernization of the French Language Services Act in our first 100 days.”

—Premier Kathleen Wynne

QUICK FACTS

Ontario’s francophone community has a rich history that dates back more than 400 years. In recognition of this, the first monument dedicated to Franco-Ontarians on the grounds of Queen’s Park will be unveiled this summer.

More than 622,000 francophones live in Ontario, Canada’s largest francophone community outside of Quebec.